|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Feb 15, 2022 14:21:52 GMT -5
Pete Abraham
Alex Cora, the #RedSox coaching staff and members of the front office are assembling in Fort Myers today.
They're preparing for what they hope will be spring training at some point. If not, the early arriving minor leaguers will get plenty of attention.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Feb 15, 2022 14:28:42 GMT -5
As baseball standoff continues, the forecast for spring remains cloudy By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated February 14, 2022, 2 hours ago
The Globe has made it a point to start covering spring training in person the day after the Super Bowl the last dozen years. The timing makes sense: get rolling on baseball a day after football ends.
Even the most innocuous stories from Fenway South are welcomed by readers if for no other reason than they serve as a reminder that winter will soon be over. That first dateline from Fort Myers is more reliable than any groundhog.
But baseball is in the deepest of freezes this year, and there are only a handful of minor leaguers at the Red Sox facility. The lockout is now in its 12th week and baseball coverage is largely focused on arguments over aspects of the collective bargaining agreement instead of players arriving to camp to start a new season.
That’s not expected to change soon. The owners and players have taken turns expressing how disappointed they are in the proposals made by the other side. That spring training will not start on time later this week is certain.
The lack of urgency is what’s most disappointing. The last agreement expired Dec. 1, and the sides have met an average of only once every two weeks since. Major League Baseball and the Players Association have further wasted time making offers they knew would be rejected out of hand.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The game could have continued operating under the old CBA as negotiations were held, but the owners immediately locked the players out.
“We believe that an offseason lockout is the best mechanism to protect the 2022 season,” commissioner Rob Manfred said at the time.
How’s that working out?
Reaching a fair agreement shouldn’t be this hard. The players are right to seek better salaries for younger players, who have been taken advantage of for years, and to insist on competitive integrity throughout the game.
No owner should be in favor of tanking for draft picks. The Baltimore Orioles have been fielding low-budget teams designed to lose for three years now. They’re damaging the product teams like the Red Sox and Yankees are trying to sell to their fans.
Competitive integrity shouldn’t be a bargaining point; it’s necessary for the good of the sport. But owners are fine with dragging out this negotiation knowing that 1,000-plus players are more likely than 30 billionaires to break ranks and settle for less than what they wanted.
This is where baseball has consistently missed the point for several years. Fighting over money has obscured the larger point of the sides needing to work together to improve the product on the field to secure the long-term success of the game.
The players do not see Manfred as an ally and likely never will considering the acrimony of this winter. So important matters like improving the pace of play and getting more action back into the game have been pushed aside or will be implemented later.
For now, it’s not quite a crisis. The early days of spring training are a time for pitchers to build up arm strength while the hitters get their timing back. If players get to camp in two weeks, there would still be enough time to get ready for Opening Day March 31.
Spring training was once necessary to get the players back in shape after an offseason of holding down other jobs. Now even the last man on the roster has a personal trainer. As hitters often say, they could get ready in two weeks. The rest is for the pitchers.
Spring training is important, but four weeks instead of six would suffice.
It does have its moments, though. A year ago, watching 18-year-old second base prospect Nick Yorke working with the major league players early in camp was educational because he didn’t look out of place.
It also was in February a year ago when Alex Cora walked by early one morning and suggested going to watch Rule 5 pick Garrett Whitlock throw in the bullpen.
“I think we’ve got something in this kid,” he said.
Turns out they did. Whitlock appeared in 46 games last season and had a 1.96 earned run average. They might try him as a starter this season, which would have been something to keep an eye on in Florida.
It’s also a good time to get to better know the players because the setting is so much more informal than during the season. Snippets of conversation in February bloom into stories down the road. Given how much turnover the Sox have had the last few years, that’s important.
Hopefully those moments happen again sometime soon. But as is often the case with baseball, it’s hard to be optimistic.
|
|
|
Post by scrappyunderdog on Feb 17, 2022 21:08:33 GMT -5
Pete Abraham
Alex Cora, the #RedSox coaching staff and members of the front office are assembling in Fort Myers today.
They're preparing for what they hope will be spring training at some point. If not, the early arriving minor leaguers will get plenty of attention. Good opportunity for the kids. They can get the undivided attention from some of the best coaching minds in the world for a couple of weeks.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Feb 24, 2022 10:33:58 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 40m Chris Sale is facing hitters at @fgcu now. Matt Barnes has it on his Instagram (mbarnes1313).
Sox pitchers have been working out there because they're locked out of Fenway South.
I'm confident in saying this represents the most Sale has ever been on social media.
He's passionately opposed to it, which probably isn't a bad idea.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Feb 24, 2022 14:14:16 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Feb 25, 2022 15:04:35 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Mar 4, 2022 12:36:23 GMT -5
MLB lockout not stopping longtime WBZ Boston Red Sox reporter Jonny Miller from hunkering down in Fort Myers ahead of 51st spring training | Chris Cotillo (MLB Notebook) Updated: Mar. 04, 2022, 11:18 a.m. | Published: Mar. 04, 2022, 11:07 a.m.
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
With Red Sox spring training delayed due to the ongoing MLB lockout, there is virtually nothing in Fort Myers that resembles a normal March. One constant remains, though. His name is Jonny Miller, and he can be found surrounded by Oreos and Priority Mail envelopes in the exact same handicap-accessible hotel room he has rented each spring for the last 11 years.
The threat of a delayed spring training didn’t stop Miller, who has covered the Red Sox for WBZ Radio for five decades, from making his annual trek to southwest Florida in early January. Since 1977, the Red Sox have had 15 different managers but Miller has only had three different spring training hotel rooms. Before his current digs, he occupied the same room at the Holiday Inn near City of Palms Park each spring from 1993 to 2011 and before that, the same room in Winter Haven while the Red Sox trained there from 1977 to 1992. At his current spring home, hotel staffers refer to him exclusively as “Mr. Miller” and eagerly await the annual note he leaves asking to book his room for the next year. In other places, spring training starts when pitchers and catchers are get to town. In Fort Myers, it’s when Jonny does.
When camp begins, it will be the 51st -- yes, 51st -- Miller has covered. His first came in 1972, when he was a Boston University senior, and like this year, there was a work stoppage that delayed the season. Fifty years later, Miller brags about telling one of his professors that some team was going to be screwed by how the strike caused teams to play an uneven number of games and laughs about how it was the Red Sox, who at 85-70, finished one game behind the 86-70 Tigers. He’s relieved to hear MLB is planning on having all its teams play an equal number of games this time around.
Instead of getting up early every day to arrive at Fenway South before dawn like he has in years past, Miller has found other ways to keep busy. Every morning, he has a half-dozen newspapers delivered and spends about 3 ½ hours reading them. Then he spends his day driving around town in his rental car, sometimes visiting the beach and more frequently calling friends back home or mailing them newspaper clippings or other packages. With the Sox complex closed to media until March 6, the ultimate creature of habit has had his routine disrupted. But that’s O.K., he insists. It’s still better to be in warm weather, where there’s no risk of slipping on ice, even if there’s no baseball. The thing he misses most about New England winters is watching Channel 5 and laughing hysterically at locals rushing out to supermarkets and hardware stores to stock up before snowstorms.
“Every year they could run the same tape,” Miller quipped. “Who would know the difference? It’s just snow. Really. How many people could survive two or three days without going out to the grocery store, right? They panic!”
Miller, who was born with cerebral palsy, holds a special place in Red Sox lore due to his distinct voice (he’s the one who asks the first question at every press conference), tough questioning and institutional knowledge of the franchise’s history. He proudly hasn’t missed a spring training since starting the job and has covered almost everything, from Roger Clemens’ holdouts in 1987 and 1992 to the mid-spring hiring of Grady Little in 2002 and the Mookie Betts trade two years ago. The only time Miller missed some of camp was in 1988, when he got into a serious car accident in the tiny town of Yeehaw Junction on his way to Winter Haven. Miller doesn’t remember what happened, or much about the days after the crash, but he knows Clemens and other Red Sox players came to visit him in the hospital. Even in 2019, just a few months after suffering a stroke on a flight to Los Angeles midway through the 2018 World Series and spending six weeks at Spaulding Rehab, he was ready to ask questions on the first day of camp. Sox manager Alex Cora declared him the “comeback player of the year” long before the season ever started.
Though much has stayed the same for Miller, some things are different than they used to be. Since his stroke, he has not made his beloved 1,450-mile drive from Newton to Fort Myers each winter. Sure, he’s deprived of his annual stops in Springfield, Virginia and Brunswick, Georgia, but flying’s much easier. He has cut back significantly on road games after working close to a full schedule for much of his career (and traveling with the Celtics during winters in the 1980s). As for his health, Miller says his balance is still a bit shaky due to the stroke but otherwise he feels great. At 72, the longest tenured member of the Red Sox media corps is showing no signs of slowing down -- even if friends and colleagues insist that he should.
The game, the job and the world have changed in countless ways since Miller paid $38 round-trip to fly to Detroit to cover Opening Day in April 1972. Players and personalities have come and gone and access has changed dramatically. But Miller says he’s still as upbeat about baseball and still has the same love for covering the Red Sox as he did on his first day.
“Without a doubt,” he said. “You know what amazes me? People come down here and bitch about being here. I just shake my head and keep quiet.”
Miller isn’t very bullish on the 2022 Red Sox despite how they came just two wins short of the World Series last fall. He predicts they’ll finish in fourth place behind the Rays, Yankees and Blue Jays, though that could change if they sign a few free agents. The rotation (“They could have a M.A.S.H. unit!”), the bullpen (“They better shore it up!”) and the outfield (“They need a left-fielder!”) need to improve for Boston to be slotted any higher in Miller’s power rankings.
Someday, hopefully soon, the lockout will end, camp will start and Cora will hold his first press conference of 2022. When he does, Miller, who will almost certainly be wearing a white polo and jeans, will have the floor. He hopes he’ll be able to track down Cora this weekend to ask him how strange it is to not have the major leaguers in camp. He might even follow up by confirming the Red Sox won’t rush their pitchers in what could be a shortened spring.
As for the current lockout, Miller blames the owners and thinks they’ll be very happy if the lockout goes long enough to cost the players two paychecks. He’s not optimistic about the regular season starting anytime soon. His plan, at least for now, is to stay in Fort Myers for three or four weeks, then re-assess. He’s looking forward to other media members joining him when minor-league camp opens this weekend. When they arrive, they’ll be greeted with Miller’s patented gallows humor. He already has a certain lockout-related line ready to go.
“The earliest they could come back is May 15, or May 20,” Miller deadpanned. “The latest they could come back would be May 23... in 2023.”
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Mar 5, 2022 4:45:00 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 7h Correction: MLB says spring training games will begin **no earlier** than March 18.
That bangs 21 of the 34 Grapefruit League games the Red Sox had scheduled.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Mar 6, 2022 9:43:02 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox prospects Alex Binelas, David Hamilton from Hunter Renfroe trade among top newcomers at minor league camp Updated: Mar. 06, 2022, 8:00 a.m. | Published: Mar. 06, 2022, 7:58 a.m.
By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
FORT MYERS — Red Sox minor league camp opens Sunday when pitchers and catchers begin working out here at JetBlue Park at 9 a.m.
The first official workout for position players will be Thursday.
The MLB lockout prevents prospects on the 40-man roster — such as Jarren Duran, Jeter Downs, Jay Groome, Brayan Bello, Bryan Mata, Josh Winckowski and Connor Seabold — from participating.
But Boston’s top three prospects — Marcelo Mayer, Triston Casas and Nick Yorke — all will be here.
Below are 11 newcomers to watch who will be participating in their first Red Sox spring training:
Alex Binelas: The 21-year-old’s raw power will be on display. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound corner infielder slugged .636 with nine homers and 11 doubles in 29 games (132 plate appearances) at Low-A Carolina after the Brewers drafted him last year.
His MLB Pipeline scouting report notes, “Binelas’ best tool is his left-handed power, the product of strength and bat speed. He uses the entire field and doesn’t chase many pitches out of the strike zone, yet he doesn’t have a history of hitting for high averages.”
David Hamilton: The 24-year-old’s speed and infield defense are two things to watch. He missed 2019 due to a ruptured Achilles suffered in a scooter accident but he regained his elite speed in 2021 with 52 stolen bases in 101 games between High-A Wisconsin and Double-A Biloxi. He plays both shortstop and second base and has the potential to be a solid utility infielder.
“David Hamilton has premium speed and he’s a really good middle infielder,” chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said after acquiring the left-handed hitter.
Marcelo Mayer: This will be the shortstop’s first spring training camp after Boston drafted him fourth overall in 2021. Baseball America grades his hit tool a 65 and his fielding/arm both a 60. The 19-year-old left-handed hitter already is listed No. 15 on Baseball America’s top 100 list. He posted an .817 OPS in 26 games (107 plate appearances) in the Florida Complex League last year.
Mayer was one of the prospects Baseball America highlighted Thursday in “10 Prospects We Expect To Make A Jump In 2022.” BA wrote, “The California prep product boasts an array of average or better tools—only his foot speed ranks as below-average—and could easily wreck the competition at both Class A levels in 2022.”
Nathan Hickey: MLB Pipeline wrote, “His offensive and defensive profile garners him some comparisons to Kyle Schwarber.”
The 22-year-old catcher was the only player from the 2021 MLB Draft who the Red Sox invited to participate in its Winter Warmup camp that happened in January. This will be his first spring training camp after Boston selected him in the fifth round out of Florida and signed him over slot value.
Like Schwarber, he’s a left-handed hitter with power and he has “a mature approach at the plate,” MLB Pipeline wrote. But it graded his defense a 40, noting, “his receiving and blocking will have to improve significantly.”
He’s going to have to improve defensively or else change positions like Schwarber, who was drafted as a catcher, did.
Roberto Ramos and Christin Stewart:
The Red Sox signed Ramos, a 27-year-old first baseman, to a minor league deal in February. The former Rockies prospect played in the Korea Baseball Organization the past two years. The left-handed hitter bashed 38 homers and posted a .954 OPS in 117 games (494 plate appearances) for the LG Twins in 2020.
Stewart, a 28-year-old left fielder and left-handed hitter, was a Tigers’ 2015 first round pick. He appeared in 157 major league games for the Detroit Tigers from 2018-20. Boston signed him to a minor league deal in November. He has intriguing power (119 homers in 577 minor league games, 15 homers in 157 major league games) but he strikes out a lot (24.9% strikeout percentage in the majors).
Niko Kavadas: Like Binelas, it should be fascinating to see Kavadas’ raw power during camp. Boston drafted the 23-year-old first baseman last summer so this will be his first spring training and his first full professional season.
The left-handed hitter went 11-for-43 (.256) with a .448 on-base percentage, .488 slugging percentage, .936 OPS, two homers and four doubles in 15 games combined in the Florida Complex League and Low-A Salem after signing. He posted a 1.007 OPS in seven games at Salem.
The 6-foot-1, 240 pounder had almost as many walks (65) as strikeouts (68) last year between Notre Dame and professional ball. He had more walks (15) than strikeouts (13) in the FCL and Salem.
“Heading into my (senior) season last year that was my one big goal. I wanted a 1-to-1 walk-strikeout ratio,” Kavadas said recently. “I invested in a VR headset trying to get to see as many pitches as possible ... Being able to see all those pitches I think helped me.
“I think taking aggressive swings early in the count and putting the ball in play before two strikes is kind of what drove the strikeout numbers down a little bit,” he added. “And also being patient enough not to chase. If there’s a pitch you don’t handle well — even though it might be a strike — laying off that 0-0, 0-1, 1-1 and letting them (the opposing pitcher) have another opportunity to make a mistake. I think that was a big part of the amount of walks I accumulated over the last year.”
Tyler McDonough: What makes the 22-year-old center fielder/second baseman so interesting is he profiles as a similar player to Brock Holt. He has the potential to play all over the infield and outfield.
He impressed with the bat after Boston selected him in the third round (75th overall) out of North Carolina State last summer. The switch-hitter batted .298 with a .389 on-base percentage, .496 slugging percentage, .884 OPS, three homers, seven doubles and four triples combined at Low-A Salem (27 games) and the Florida Complex League (four games) in 2021.
Tyler Miller: The 22-year-old left-handed hitter batted .327 with a .409 on-base percentage, .525 slugging percentage, .934 OPS, three homers, two triples and seven doubles in 27 games (115 plate appearances) after Boston drafted him in the ninth round out of Auburn last year.
The corner infielder played 18 games in the Florida Complex League and nine games at Low-A Salem where he slashed .359/.419/.615/1.034 in 43 plate appearances.
Wyatt Olds: Boston drafted the 22-year-old righty in the seventh round out of Oklahoma last summer. And so this is his first spring training.
SoxProspects.com noted Olds has “a 93-97 mph fastball, 10-4 slider, and a developing changeup.”
Olds pitched in five games (made three starts) for Salem last summer, posting a 2.45 ERA, 20 strikeouts and six walks.
Brian Keller: Boston selected the 27-year-old righty from the Yankees in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft last month.
He provides the Red Sox with starting rotation and long relief depth. He appeared in 26 games (11 starts) for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2021. He posted a 2.77 ERA and held opponents to a .214 batting average against in 55 ⅓ innings but his control was an issue. He allowed 7.5 walks per nine innings, which was unlike him. He has allowed just 2.8 walks per nine innings in 441 ⅓ innings in the minor leagues.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Mar 8, 2022 4:33:25 GMT -5
Alex Cora and his staff are ready for work in Fort Myers — but have no Red Sox to coach By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated March 7, 2022, 4:46 p.m.
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Alex Cora was supposed to manage a spring training game against the Blue Jays Sunday afternoon. He was in Dallas instead with his girlfriend, Angelica, for the weekend, seeing a concert by Dominican superstar Juan Luis Guerra.
“Why not?” Cora said Monday after he returned to Fenway South.
Major League Baseball’s interminable lockout has managers and coaches on pause. They’ve reported to work but have no players to work with.
Cora and his staff arrived here Feb. 15 and met to lay out plans for spring training and the coming season.
With assistant hitting coaches Luis Ortiz and Ben Rosenthal joining the staff over the winter and Ramón Vázquez in a new role as first base coach, that time was useful.
“We’re always on top of it,” Cora said. “That was a good thing because we didn’t have time to meet in the offseason like we usually do. We had a lot of meetings with the [baseball research] department, just learning.”
They’ve also spent time helping coach the minor-league players, which is a delicate process because you don’t want to interfere with the coaches of those teams.
“It’s been good,” said Cora, who is sporting a salt-and-pepper beard. “Just walking around, a few ground balls here and there. Kind of watching.”
For Cora, it has been instructional to get a first-hand look at how the Sox develop players. He’s also impressed with what has become a broader base of talent in the organization the last few years.
“You see it,” he said. “Physical kids, good athletes, good arms, velo[city] is up. It’s one thing to read about it and [another] to see it. We’re in a better place, we are. We have a good program going right now.”
The difficult part for Cora has been being banned from any type of communication with players on the 40-man roster. He typically would be in touch throughout the winter via phone calls, text messages, or social media.
Cora’s managing style has been to forge personal bonds with players, something he believes leads to better communication during the season.
MLB has barred team personnel from even mentioning players by name in interviews.
“It’s hard,” Cora said. “It is what it is, but I still don’t get it. Social media helps to see what they’re doing. But that’s about it. It’s weird.”
Red Sox president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom has allowed the major league coaching staff to come and go in Fort Myers. Cora plans to return to Puerto Rico Thursday to see his 4-year-old twin sons.
If the lockout continues, Cora plans to take a trip to the Red Sox academy in the Dominican Republic to meet with players and staff there. He has not had a chance to visit the complex, which is in El Toro.
“Spend a few days and see it and be part of it,” Cora said. “That would be good for me, and obviously I know how much it means for them.”
As he talked to the small group of reporters on hand, Cora was perched on a small set of bleachers, watching an intrasquad minor league game through a chain-link fence.
He likes what he sees from Marcelo Mayer, saying the Sox were lucky he was still available with the fourth pick of the draft last July. He also is impressed with how 2020 first-round pick Nick Yorke has developed physically in the last year.
“You walk around and you feel good about the future,” Cora said.
. . .
Lefthander Brandon Walter, an unheralded 26th-round pick in 2019, struck out Yorke, Mayer, and Blaze Jordan in order during the intrasquad game . . . Third baseman Alex Binelas, one of the prospects acquired from the Brewers for Hunter Renfroe, has impressed Cora and the other coaches. “How physical he is,” the manager said. “He has a good swing.” Cora also has been impressed by 23-year-old lefthander Chris Murphy, a sixth-round pick in 2019 who ended last season in Portland . . . Methuen native Jake Wallace pitched a perfect inning in the intrasquad game. He’s starting his second full year in the organization after being obtained from the Rockies in 2020. Wallace could start the season in Double A.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Mar 8, 2022 4:36:49 GMT -5
At Red Sox minor-league spring training, Triston Casas appreciates what major leaguers are doing in the labor talks By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated March 6, 2022, 4:58 p.m.
FORT MYERS, Fla. — There are no absolute guarantees, but 22-year-old Triston Casas will play in the major leagues before too long and is likely to experience a great deal of success.
Casas is a tall, powerfully built first baseman with a well-refined work ethic and plate approach. He’s marched through the minor leagues since the Red Sox took him in the first round of the 2018 draft.
Prospects like Casas are part of the reason the major-league season won’t start on time. One of the battles being fought between Major League Baseball and the Players Association during the lockout is over how younger players should be compensated.
The union is seeking a higher minimum salary and a bonus pool that would reward the best young players.
MLB’s minimum of $570,500 lags behind the NBA ($925,258), NHL ($750,000), and NFL ($660,000). Under the current system, most players cannot negotiate for more until after their third season.
Casas is not yet a member of the Players Association, but could be a direct beneficiary of their actions. It’s an unusual position to be in.
“I absolutely appreciate what they’re doing,” Casas said Sunday. “I know they’re working diligently to make sure baseball is a fair game. I don’t know all the information, but they’re making a sacrifice to help younger players.”
Casas was one of approximately 140 players in uniform as the Red Sox officially opened minor-league spring training. Position players don’t officially report until Thursday, but Casas, Blaze Jordan, Marcelo Mayer, and Nick Yorke were among those already at work.
In some ways, it was a normal day. A group of pitchers threw live batting practice while others threw in the bullpen. There were infield drills and hitters working in the batting cages.
But beyond the occasional crack of a bat striking a ball, the atmosphere at Fenway South was oddly quiet. Fans were not allowed on the grounds to watch the workouts, and the stadium was empty with Grapefruit League games canceled until at least March 18. Manager Alex Cora and his coaches have been on site, but weren’t for this session.
There was an intrasquad game at noon that lasted 5½ innings. Nick Northcutt and Marcus Wilson homered, and you could hear birds chirping as they rounded the bases. Casas nearly joined them, but his fly ball to deep left field was caught on the warning track.
Ideally, Casas would be using this time to learn about his craft from Xander Bogaerts and the other big leaguers. But they’re scattered around the world, waiting for the lockout to end.
“There’s been a good vibe here,” Casas said. “The players and the coaches are working hard. I’ve enjoyed it. But it’s been different for sure.”
Casas had an eventful 2021. He opened the season with Double A Portland, then left in May for two weeks to play for Team USA in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Florida.
Casas returned to Portland, then joined Team USA again in July for nearly a month, first to train in North Carolina before traveling to Japan for the Olympics. Then came a late-September promotion to Triple A Worcester before an October assignment to the Arizona Fall League for 21 games.
In all, he played 117 games with an OPS of just over .900, 18 home runs, and 81 RBI.
“I was bouncing all over the place,” Casas said. “I did my best to take it one day at a time and I’m happy with the way I handled it. But hopefully I’ll be a little more settled this year.”
That’s likely to be with Worcester, with the possibility of a promotion to the majors during the season, but Casas didn’t concede that point.
“My goal is to make the major league team,” he said.
Casas spent the offseason in south Florida working out with college football players preparing for the NFL combine under trainer Adam Boily.
“I feel that’s how I get better,” Casas said. “I’ve been with him for the last 10 years. I hit at my old high school. I do what works for me.”
The minor-league season starts April 5 and won’t be affected by the lockout. So Casas and the other players on the field Sunday will have somewhere to go.
As for their major league counterparts, Fenway South is open and waiting.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Mar 8, 2022 4:47:54 GMT -5
Marcelo Mayer, Boston Red Sox’s top prospect, went from ‘tall, skinny’ to ‘wow,’ Alex Cora says Updated: Mar. 07, 2022, 3:12 p.m. | Published: Mar. 07, 2022, 3:12 p.m.
By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Marcelo Mayer worked out at Fenway Park on July 22 after Boston drafted him fourth overall and signed him for $6.640 million.
The 19-year-old shortstop looks much different seven and a half months later.
“Marcelo, we saw him in Boston. Tall, skinny. And all of a sudden he’s like, ‘Wow, OK. Cool,’” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said here Monday at JetBlue Park.
“Wow. OK. Cool” means Mayer has added a lot more muscle.
He weighed 190 pounds when he began his professional career last summer. He arrived here at minor league spring training camp weighing 202 pounds after what he described as a “hard offseason.”
He didn’t even routinely lift weights during high school.
“Those days are definitely gone,” Mayer said. “We lift every day here, keep our bodies in good shape so we’re out there playing for as long as possible.”
The left-handed hitter already is listed No. 15 on Baseball America’s top 100.
Mayer said he was not on a strict diet during the offseason.
“But I was making sure I eat good,” he said. “Staying off junk food and stuff like that. Just doing whatever I can to keep my body in shape.”
Cora especially is pleased with how Mayer has taken on a leadership role so early in his pro career.
“In the clubhouse. In the meetings. His willingness to help everybody,” Cora said.
Cora pointed out how Mayer is bilingual. He speaks both Spanish and English. So the top prospect helps the Latin players communicate with their English-speaking teammates and coaches.
“He doesn’t have to do that,” Cora said. “We signed him to get to the big leagues. Not to be a translator. But it comes easy for him. He’s a good teammate. People gravitate to him, which is great. ... To see him, he gets it. He understands.”
Mayer added, “It’s something that comes natural to me. It helps a lot that I speak two languages. So I’m able to get along with all the Latin and American players.”
Mayer arrived in Fort Myers about two weeks ago.
He said he spent a lot of time this winter working on his throwing mechanics, including his first step.
“In the gym, working on my first step, trying to be quick,” he said. “I’m a taller shortstop so just trying to stay healthy as well.”
Mayer went 25-for-91 (.275) with a .377 on-base percentage, .440 slugging percentage, .817 OPS, three homers, four doubles, one triple, 17 RBIs, 25 runs, 15 walks, 27 strikeouts and seven steals in 26 games in the Florida Complex League. He likely will begin the 2022 season at Low-A Salem.
“The biggest thing for me is from the neck up,” Mayer said. “It’s just being able to spin on the offspeed. Being able to swing at strikes. Take offspeed in the dirt. Take fastballs. And just being able to be present every day. We’re here from 8 a.m. to 4. So it’s just being able to be present and stay working hard.”
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Mar 8, 2022 4:49:20 GMT -5
Red Sox
Alex Cora: Boston Red Sox SS prospect Matthew Lugo ‘reminds me of (Ángel) Pagán physically. Strong, athletic’ Updated: Mar. 07, 2022, 4:37 p.m. | Published: Mar. 07, 2022, 4:33 p.m.
By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Shortstop Matthew Lugo crushed a home run in the Red Sox’s minor league intrasquad game Monday here at JetBlue Park.
He’s definitely a prospect to watch closely this season. The Athletic’s Keith Law recently ranked Lugo the Red Sox’s No. 9 prospect. Law also named him Boston’s 2022 sleeper prospect, writing, “I think this is Lugo’s year to take that big step forward at the plate, with harder contact and better at-bats translating at least into doubles power.”
Lugo, a native of Puerto Rico, is Carlos Beltran’s nephew. Boston selected him in the second round of the 2019 MLB Draft.
The 20-year-old reminds Red Sox manager Alex Cora physically of fellow Puerto Rican Ángel Pagán, a career .280/.330/.408/.738 hitter in 11 big league seasons for the Cubs, Mets and Giants.
“Really good athlete,” Cora said here at JetBlue Park. “Everybody knows about his uncle. He actually reminds me of (Ángel) Pagán physically. Strong, athletic. Everything about what people say here, it’s been a slow process but little by little you can see it. He’s stronger. His swing is getting better. Defensively, he’s taking the right steps. ... I think physically, he’s up there with the best athletes in the organization.”
Lugo, who is listed at 6-1, 187 pounds, will turn 21 in May. He batted .270 with a .338 on-base percentage, .364 slugging percentage, .702 OPS, four homers, 21 doubles, three triples, 61 runs, 50 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 105 games (469 plate appearances) for Low-A Salem in 2021. The right-handed hitter had a decent 20% strikeout percentage and 8% walk percentage.
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Mar 8, 2022 10:14:32 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox notebook: Alex Cora impressed with Alex Binelas’ swing, says it’s ‘unreal’ to see David Ortiz make Hall of Fame Updated: Mar. 08, 2022, 8:42 a.m. | Published: Mar. 08, 2022, 8:31 a.m.
By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox manager Alex Cora has been mostly a spectator, not an instructor, since the minor leaguers began working out here at the JetBlue Park complex the past few weeks. Sunday marked the first official workout for players not on the 40-man roster.
“We’re in a good spot,” Cora said about the farm system here at JetBlue Park on Monday. “Obviously (chief baseball officer) Chaim (Bloom) always says that we’re not there yet. He’ll keep saying that the rest of his career. He’s relentless about that. But you see it. Physical kids. Good athletes. Good arms. Velo is up.”
Cora will go back and forth between Fort Myers and Puerto Rico until major league camp begins. MLB has locked out the 40-man roster players since Dec. 1 at 11:59 p.m.
Cora was in Dallas on Sunday to watch Juan Luis Guerra in concert after missing Guerra in the offseason because of a canceled show. He plans to return home Thursday to see his twin sons.
He also plans to take a trip to the Red Sox Dominican Academy for a few days. It will be his first time at the complex.
“See it and be part of it,” Cora said. “I think that will be good for me. And obviously I know how much it means to them.”
Binelas has “good swing”
Cora said both prospects Nick Yorke and Marcelo Mayer caught his eye because they are in impressive shape physically. Baseball America already ranks Mayer, the fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft, No. 15 on its top 100 list. BA has Yorke ranked No. 31 after a dominant first professional season in 2021.
“You see it. It’s a different kid,” Cora said about Yorke.
“Marcelo, we saw him in Boston (July 22 after he signed). Tall, skinny. And all of a sudden he’s like, ‘Wow, OK. Cool,’” Cora added.
Cora is impressed with power-hitting Alex Binelas’ swing. The Red Sox acquired Binelas in the Hunter Renfroe trade.
“Binelas, how physical he is,” Cora said. “Good swing. We have a good program going right now as far as like drills and defense and all that. To see them, how they go about it, it’s refreshing.”
Chris Murphy and Durbin Feltman are two pitchers who have caught Cora’s eye. Both have a chance to make their MLB debut in 2022.
“Murph is a guy that I’ve been looking (at),” Cora said. “He has a good fastball. Feltman, physically he looks really good. We’ve got a bunch of them.”
Feltman missed a month during 2021 spring training because of a strain in his elbow (back side). He had strong numbers at Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester in 2021 but his velocity remained down. That’s something he planned to work on during the offseason.
Murphy struck out 30.2% of the batters he faced in 101 ⅓ innings between High-A Greenville and Portland in 2021.
Cora excited for David Ortiz
Cora described seeing Ortiz make the Hall of Fame as “unreal.”
Cora at first was unsure Ortiz would be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But the Red Sox manager said he was sitting watching TV one day and saw the high percentage of public ballots listing Ortiz. He thought to himself, “This might happen.”
“I called him and said, ‘You know you’re going to be a Hall of Famer?’ He’s like, ‘You think?’ I was like, ‘It feels that way.’ Good for him.”
Mayer: ‘Super cool’ to be teammates with Yorke
Mayer played against Yorke in summer ball during high school in California. He said having him as a teammate now is “super cool.”
“You could see his energy back then,” Mayer said. “I knew he was a great player back then. He’s showing it here. He’s a great guy to be around. Just super down to earth and a great teammate.”
Mayer added first base prospect Casas’ workload “every single day is impressive.” Baseball America ranks Casas No. 19 on its Top 100 list.
“Great guy. Great leader,” Mayer said about Casas. “He handles his business in a great, great way. He’s someone to look up to.”
|
|
|
Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Mar 8, 2022 14:19:20 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 1h As some people were asking:
* Players not on the 40-man roster are participating in spring training, as they usually would do. They are not locked out.
* Red Sox are not allowing fans in at Fenway South. If that changes we'll let you know.
|
|